Legend of Korra: Book 5 Energy
by Gyotso
Summary: "To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be un-bendable, or you will be corrupted and destroyed." Set just after Korra and Asami enter the Spirit World, the two travel through vast lands in search of a piece of themselves they've denied until now. With a new threat rising from the ashes of the past; Korra must turn to the fifth element to reopen a connection long since lost.
1. Hidden Connection

_Earth_

 _Fire_

 _Air_

 _Water_

 _When I was a girl, I would often read stories about the Last Airbender. And as I grew up, my father and mother explained that my brothers, sister, and I were all direct descendants from him. His name was Avatar Aang._

 _Before I was born, Grandpa Aang died. And following the cycle... the Avatar Light Spirit, Raava, passed on to a new host... a waterbender named Korra._

 _Korra went through many things in her few years as an active Avatar... she and her friends changed the world._

 _But now is a time for peace... but whenever peace is achieved... another form of chaos rises again._

 _But I believe... Korra can save the world._

Granted, maybe entering the Spirit World may not have been the most mature choice considering the state of the world. But Korra had risked life and limb time and time again... it felt only natural to want a vacation.

She was glad her friend, Asami, was here. Honestly, the two had grown ironically close since both girls used to date their best friend, Mako.

The spirits seemed peaceful in their homeland, despite the freedom to travel between worlds.

"Did you ever solve how you moved the energy around you and Kuvira?" Asami asked, broaching a conversation they'd had with their friends before the big wedding between Varrick and Zhu'Li.

Korra thought about it.

"Technically speaking... no. But I think since it was Spirit energy... it was just a matter of bending it like any other element." Korra replied, having tried to make sense of the past at least a thousand times in her head.

"How is that possible?" Asami asked, "No one else can bend energy like that... not even Avatar Aang."

"I don't know that he couldn't do it..." Korra thought about it some more and wondered if she could show her what she meant. She touched Asami's shoulder with her hand, focusing her energy into a form of bridge between the two of them.

"Oh..."

The scene shifted rapidly... suddenly they were in front of the Tree of Time.

"Where are we?" Asami asked.

"The Tree of Time... Vaatu's old prison... I didn't mean to bring us here." Korra confessed, studying the tree. "I was just trying to connect our energies so I could... well, honestly I don't know what I was thinking."

"Maybe your subconscious brought you here... it's not like Avatar powers are all that specific normally."

"True."

Korra used airbending to lift them both to the tree and looked inside it.

"So, this is where you meditated to become the big super giant spirit?"

Korra nodded, "It's the Tree of Time... it can amplify your own spiritual energy. Tenzin told me that the ancients used to cross over into the Spirit World and meditate here in search of greater truths."

"Wow, sounds amazing."

"It was." Korra decided to step in and would have slipped if Asami hadn't grabbed onto her. "Thanks." Korra said, blushing.

Asami smiled, "Be careful, Ms. Avatar." The two leapt down holding hands, Korra using gentle air breezes to slow their descent. "So, this tree knows everything?"

"Sort of... I think it's more like the ultimate Mover. It saved all of history on some big back up."

"The idea of having so many moving pictures in such little space... makes you really think about how the world has changed." Asami said, taking a step closer to Korra, hoping she wouldn't notice.

She noticed.

"Um... yeah. Aang would have never imagined an entire civilization reborn overnight. All because of Harmonic Convergence..."

"And you..." Asami pointed out, "Without you... we wouldn't have airbenders... we wouldn't have benders period if you didn't stop Amon. Zaheer would've plunged the world into chaos... you've brought balance to so much chaos in so little time."

"I wouldn't have been able to do any of it without you." Korra admitted, "Or Mako... or Bolin... or Tenzin..." The two shied away, both blushing.

"What's that?" Asami asked, pointing to a short picture behind Korra.

She turned around and barely recognized herself... mainly because she hadn't been a bald monk in over twenty years.

 _It was him... Avatar Aang. Couldn't have been older than twelve or thirteen. He was standing with a beautiful girl by his side, dressed in a green silk robe._

 _No words were passed, instead the two young teens stood staring at the sunset. Like it was the first time they were watching it._

 _The girl turned to him first. Then Aang turned to her._

 _The dark skinned girl leaned in and kissed the young Air Nomad, both momentarily ignornant of the world around them._

"What was that?" Asami asked.

"I think someone's trying to tell me something." Korra confessed.

"Who?"

"If I'm not mistaken... Aang."

"But he died a long time ago... and you lost that connection. Do you think it's back?" Asami wondered.

Korra looked at the Tree of Time and realized that maybe, as many times before, _she_ herself had been the source of her troubles. When Zaheer tried to kill her, she unconsciously shut down her link to Raava. Blaming it on the poison for the better part of three years... but now... looking at the Tree of Time, and seeing that beautiful memory from Aang's life... she was confident that the Avatars before her were not lost as she believed for so long.

Korra sat down and began to meditate, trying to focus on her past Avatars.

Asami looked around and saw several images, all of them surrounding the bald monk Korra claimed was Aang... and the dark skinned girl Asami assumed to be Katara.

 _"I'm saying I would rather kiss you than die! That's a compliment!" Aang protested._

'Wow, this kid needs to work on his flirting.' Asami thought to herself.

The scene shifted to a darker tone... a more serious tone.

 _"TELL ME WHERE APPA IS!" Aang was surrounded in waves of sand and air, each looking to send anyone nearby flying to the next continent._

 _"I... I traded him... he's probably in Ba Sing Se by now... they were gonna sell him there." A young sandbender called out..._

 _But Aang could barely hear his words... even from eighty years in the future, Asami could feel the pain he felt. The sense of betrayal, loathing, and impossible anger... it was enough to block out the loudest of sounds._

 _Aang began to float into the air, climbing higher while a young man dressed in Water Tribe garments, grabbed an Earth Kingdom girl who seemed to be unaware of the seriousness of what was going on._

 _"Just get out of here. Run!" He shouted._

 _But the young girl whom Aang kissed in the scene earlier stayed behind, she was dressed in Water Tribe wear as well, only confirming Asami's suspicion that it was Katara, the greatest healer in history._

 _She grabbed his hand and watched him turn his face in anger, enveloped by rage to the point of almost no-return... Katara pulled him down against his wishes, knowing that the best thing she could do for him was just to be there._

 _She held him tight, despite the high winds and dangerous storm still raging around them._

Korra saw the same images as Asami, but in her head, not in the tree.

 _"What are you trying to tell me?" Korra asked._

Her own memory came to her... one she made after her meeting with Zaheer, the one she had arranged to break the mental prison she surrounded herself in.

 _"Do you know where Jinora and the others are?" Korra asked Zaheer._

 _Zaheer confesses, "No... but you do."_

 _The Red Lotus leader disappears, leaving Korra's momentary confusion to be replaced by a bright light from a dark corner of her heart... somewhere she had locked up one of her favorite parts of being her._

 _"Raava... I've missed you. Where have you been?"_

 _"I have always been inside you." Raava replied._

"They're a part of me," Korra realized, "just like Raava."

She took a deep breath and exhaled, digging into that dark corner of her heart and unlocking the final block.

Her fists came apart, extending her fingers until it looked like a bright ball of energy was beginning to surface out of thin air.

The energy came apart and dispelled itself around Korra, revealing a group of some very old friends.

 _"Korra... we're so proud of you." Aang said, stepping forward._

 _"You undid my mistake." Wan told her, "I sought to protect the humans from the spirits, and neglected them in my duty to humanity. Where you managed to bring them together, I tore them apart."_

 _"But you were a great Avatar... you figured it all out without teachers, without help. Before anyone knew what the Avatar was." Korra pointed out._

 _Wan looked at her, "We are all each other. No matter how many lifetimes it takes us... we fight to correct our mistakes. In the case of Roku, merely a single life. Aang fought to defeat the Fire Lord when the world around him was new and alien. Nevertheless, his mistakes undone by the life that came next."_

 _"And my mistakes?" Korra asked._

 _Wan laughed, "You are young to be worrying about your mistakes. Keep being the Avatar. Honor the legacy we've left for you, and come to us when you require our wisdom and guidance. You are human... mistakes will be made. But my greatest mistake gave humanity a chance to build away from the backs of the great Lion Turtles."_

 _"That's why we fight." Avatar Kuruk stated, "We cannot permanently change anything... but we can fight to protect those around us, until it is time to pass the torch on to the next generation."_

 _"By the time you are ready to join us... you will be wiser, more complete. And ready to guide the next Avatar into their role as peacekeeper, mediator, and warrior." Avatar Kyoshi said._

 _"But for now..." Avatar Roku began, "It is time to enjoy life's great gifts. And to celebrate it's treasures. Remember what I told you when you were Aang... all those years ago."_

 _Korra blinked and found herself beside a younger Aang and the same-aged Roku._

 _"When love is real... it finds a way. And being the Avatar doesn't hurt your chances with the ladies either." Roku from the past explained._

Then the past Avatars were gone.

Korra's eyes glowed for several seconds before she blinked back her normal blue color.

"Are you okay?" Asami asked, catching Korra before she fell over.

Korra turned her head slightly to face Asami and remembered what Roku had told her all those years ago.

She leaned in slowly, then all at once. Pressing her lips to Asami's carefully at first, like she might explode, then pressing the kiss with more passion when Asami did not terminate it.

When the two broke apart, they pressed their foreheads together and broke out in laughter.

"Please tell me we're both laughing about the irony here?" Korra asked, fearing that Asami was making fun of her.

"Of course we are... Mako lost us... to each other!"

The two started laughing together when they realized, this was destiny.

"I've had such a hard time figuring out things in my head... and I guess I should have realized. That part of my problem... was _in_ my head. I just can't imagine going on without you."

Asami put her hand in Korra's lap, "I feel the same way. You're amazing Korra... and I'm going to do everything I can to help you be the best Avatar you can be."

"Thanks Asami... but I just thought of something."

Asami's expression changed, "What?"

"What are we going to tell Mako?"

...

"You are ready." The elderly woman stated.

"You have taught me well, Master Azula." The young firebender stated.

"You will go out and rain fire over Republic City. Burn it to the ground... cleanse the world of my brother's mistakes. And when it is a crisp... find Zuko... and kill him."

"Yes Mother."

"Rise Oza... granddaughter of Phoenix King Ozai, heir to the Fire Nation throne." Azula smirked, ready to take her revenge on her brother after seventy-plus years of hiding. Oza had been borne barely twenty years ago, making her roughly the same age as the new waterbending Avatar. Surely Avatar Korra would fight to protect Republic City and the elder Lord Zuko... but her spies, still loyal to the Fire Nation government from the Hundred Year War, confirmed to her that Korra was in the Spirit World for the time being. "Raze the city... and then you will be strong enough to rule the nation."

Oza with dark hair and piercing gold eyes rose from her kneeling position and looked out at the small legion of loyal subjects.

"Long live the Phoenix Queen!" They chanted over and over again.

"Defeat Zuko..." Azula cooed, "and _that_ title will be yours."

* * *

 **Well, what do you think?**

 **Korrasami? Definitely.** **Admittedly, the first gay ship that I wrote about. But I rewatched Korra recently... and there is just soooo much to ship.**

 **Also, I wanted to throw in some danger and problems to spice up the story. I'm planning for this to be a Tri-Shot.**

 **Love it? Hate it? Review, favorite... leave and never come again? Whatever it is...**

 **ZHU'LI... DO THE THING!**

 **(by the way, that's the correct spelling aside from the apostrophe. I added that to help connect the two.)**


	2. Fire Versus Air

**Zai Zai is pronounced like "zay zay"**

 **Oza is pronounced like "oh zah"**

* * *

Korra and Asami spent the next two weeks in the Spirit World.

They visited the Fog of Lost Souls, but left rather rapidly when they realized it had started messing with their heads. They also met Koh, the face-stealer, but that was another unpleasant visit. Korra even took Asami to Xai Bau's Grove, where she met Zaheer once, and he explained the mysterious Red Lotus.

"You seem distracted." Asami noticed.

Korra perked her eyes up, "I'm just thinking about the world."

"Big place to think about all at once."

Korra laughed, "It's just... everytime things seem to calm down, something else fires right up. I just wonder what will be waiting for us when we go back to the physical realm."

"Probably a very confused Mako."

She laughed again and then felt a cold shiver.

"Look out!" Korra shouted, earthbending Asami aside and blasting herself into the air right before a fire ball the size of a meteor crashed into the ground below them.

"What is that?" Asami demanded.

Korra didn't respond, she blasted the source with wind and slowly descended downwards.

Lightning emerged out of nowhere and caught Korra in the right shoulder blade, making her crash into the ground below.

Asami leaped into action and grabbed Korra, making a run for it as fast as she could with the Avatar on her back.

Lightning struck many other times from an invisible source, but none connected. Fireballs rained down with fiery force but did not strike.

Asami's luck ran out when she was inches away from the Spirit Portal.

A wall of fire raged to life, completely surrounding the portal in flame.

"It's too hot." Asami shouted, covering her face from the heat. She turned around and saw a young girl with dark hair walking towards her slowly. "Who are you? What do you want?"

She made a few movements with her hand that Asami recognized from Mako's technique.

She dived out of the way, the lightning disappearing into the spirit portal that led to Republic City.

Asami had enough time to hope that nobody got hit with that lightning, but luck never seemed to work in Team Avatar's favor.

She got up as fast as she could, but with Korra it was significantly slowed.

The fireball speeding towards them spelled certain doom.

Certain doom was blasted sideways by a gust of air, and the flames surrounding the portal were blown away into the wind.

Jinora moved quickly, rotating her whole body and surrounding herself in a small tornado. The burst of fire shot by the mysterious aggressor towards the daughter of Tenzin spun around her small frame and was shot back toward the attacker with extra speed.

Whoever she was, she deflected the blast but skidded back several feet for her effort.

Jinora fired several air blasts towards her to send her off balance, which was responded too with quick movements and rapid fire fire blasts.

Jinora leaped into the air and kicked strongly, sending a huge gust towards the firebender.

She could not stand her ground, nor avoid, so she was blasted into the nearest spirit tree and captured by its wild roots.

"Come on!" Jinora shouted, running to her friends.

"Korra's been hit!" Asami shouted.

"Dang it." Jinora heard the sound of firebending and knew that the attacker was freeing herself of the vines.

Jinora led the two back into the physical world and called for her Sky Bison to come and get Korra away.

"Go with her, send help." Jinora told Asami, standing at the ready for the mysterious bender to make a reappearance.

Asami climbed aboard Pepper and shouted, "Yip Yip!" to get the Bison off the ground.

"AHHH!" Pepper screamed, taking off into the air begrudgingly leaving its friend behind.

Jinora dodged a fireball, then two, before a third one would have struck her had it not been for a small air shield she put up to defend herself.

"Who are you?" Jinora demanded.

She began to power up lightning.

Jinora spun on her toes as fast as she could until the winds were far too difficult to stand.

Jinora whipped the tornado towards the firebender and sent her spinning around, sucked in by the vortex.

She then jumped and twirled into the air, slicing harshly to blast the bender out of the vortex.

Jinora landed softly on a rooftop while her opponent crashed into a parked Satomobile.

Jinora huffed and leaped down, landing softly on the ground.

The combatants' breathing were both heavy, but neither seemed ready to give up.

The firebenders entire body became immersed in flame, seemingly off her own power.

"Don't!" Jinora shouted, noticing the leaking gas from the crumpled Satomobile.

There were too many civilian spectators around to let this become a suicide mission, so she spun around and began to bend the air out of the area within ten yards.

The firebender's eyes went wide as she struggled for breath, a flame... anything.

Jinora let go of her complex airbending move and cut up through the air to knock the weakened firebender into the road.

"Who are you?" Jinora demanded once again.

The lightning came out of nowhere.

Jinora managed to sidestep, but she was close enough to impact of the explosion to send her flying. She crashed through the window of one of the shops and bonked her head on the counter.

"Uhhh..." she groaned before she passed out.

The firebender rose from her weakness and smirked slyly, joined by another firebender who was the source of the latest lightning strike.

"Well done, Zai Zai." Oza said, "But next time, don't let an airbender child get the better on you."

"Shall we finish the job Princess Oza?"

"No... more will be here soon. We must make our retreat."

Oza pointed her fingers and blasted several Satomobiles with lightning, causing them all to explode and spread flame everywhere.

The two firebenders disappeared into the smoke and fled the scene.

...

"How could this happen?" Mako demanded.

"She snuck up on us." Asami defended, "I tried to keep Korra from getting killed but dodging fireballs as a non-bender isn't exactly easy."

"But she'll be okay right?" Bolin asked.

Kya nodded, "She'll be fine. She was caught on the right shoulder, far from her heart. A couple days of healing and rest, and she'll be back in fighting shape in no time."

Everyone sighed a breath of relief.

"Who were they?" Asami asked.

Jinora shrugged, still a little foggy from the events a few hours ago. "I don't even remember a second firebender."

"She must have been the one who shot you with lightning." Tenzin reasoned, "According to the witnesses, a second firebender showed up right when you were sent through that shop window."

"Some of them thought she looked like Azula." Mako added.

"Azula?" Bolin and Asami asked at the same time.

"Princess Azula of the Fire Nation." Jinora stated.

"I didn't know General Iroh had a sister." Bolin said.

"He doesn't." Jinora told him, "Azula was Lord Zuko's sister. She was incarcerated by Katara during Sozin's Comet, while Avatar Aang battled Ozai."

"But she was released to help him find their mother. Then she disappeared and no one has seen her since. Many believe she is dead." Tenzin pointed out.

"Well, there's no way two teenage girls could be her. She has to be like eighty by now." Asami mentioned.

Jinora nodded, "Or late seventies. But same respect."

"Could she have had a daughter?" Mako suggested.

"No one would know but her I suppose." Tenzin decided, grumpily.

"It's a bummer Dad never took away her firebending." Kya pointed out.

"He was only thirteen when the war was over." Tenzin reminded her, "Not to mention she wasn't exactly emotionally stable. He once told me that he often regretted his decision to allow Azula to keep her bending, but I think he forgave himself at the end purely because she didn't do anything with it."

"Going off the idea that _is_ her daughter," Asami began, "wouldn't energybending not stop her from passing on firbending? Yakone had Tarrlock and Amon and he was energy bent, wasn't he?"

Tenzin nodded, "Shortly after Yakone escaped his trial, Aang stepped in and took it from him so he could no longer bloodbend."

"Hold up, why hasn't Korra done that?" Bolin interjected, "I mean if we could take away people's bending... why leave Zaheer and Kuvira with theirs? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Kuvira surrendered, she doesn't need to lose her bending." Mako reminded him.

"Plus energybending another person requires the purest of souls. Korra is an exceptional Avatar, but she is constantly riddled with indecision and uncertainty. If she attempts to, and fails to, take their bending away she will only destroy herself." Tenzin explained.

Bolin's eyes went wide.

"And we don't want that."

"No, Asami. Of course not." Mako agreed.

Asami looked away from him nervously and went to stand by Korra's side.

"We have to stop these benders, no matter what. You know they'll be back." Asami pointed out.

Mako nodded, "Chief Beifong's already called in for security here on Air Temple Island around the clock."

"The White Lotus is already here, standing guard." Bumi said, entering the room.

"Is Korra going to be okay?" Ikki asked, following her uncle.

"She's going to be fine." Asami promised, "She just needs rest right?"

Kya nodded, "Lots of it. We should actually all get out and let her sleep."

One by one they left until it was only Mako and Asami.

"This is one way to end a vacation." Asami stated sarcastically.

"I should have been there." Mako chastised himself.

"Hey, this wasn't about you." Asami said defensively, "Korra and I left to get away from it all, the chaos, the imbalance, the nations, the boys..."

"Boys? What do boys have to do with it?"

"I meant just..." Asami got a little flustered.

"Do you mean you two were trying to get away from me?"

"No... not like that. I just meant that... um... well."

"I said out." Kya said firmly, reentering as silent as the night.

Mako led Kya out while Asami snuck behind and kissed Korra's forehead.

"I'll come see you later." She promised.

...

"Your attack was foolish and cost you dearly." Azula's voice came out from the other side of the telephone.

"Not quite, Master Azula. The Avatar is greatly weakened, the time to strike Republic City is now." Oza explained.

"Kill the President and burn his house to the ground. If you succeed, daughter, I will send you a small squadron to take the city. But be warned, if this is not swiftly done, the United Forces will surely arrive and quell any insurrection with haste."

"Yes mother, I will not fail you."

Oza hung up.

"What's the plan?" Zai Zai asked.

"Burn the city to the ground." Oza said coldly.

Zai Zai groaned, "That sounds like a lot of work."

"You would do well to obey and serve. Your failure to kill the Avatar and her friend is noticed, regardless of your incapacitating attack."

"When shall we strike?"

Oza thought about it, "Tonight. We will begin at the Oval Office. You will set fire to the building after I kill the President. Have our friend at the phone company cut the lines and have him join us at the rendezvous at twenty-three hundred hours."

"Yes mi'lady."

...

"Who are you?" Raiko demanded, calling for support with his hidden button.

"No one's coming to help... the end of the Republic starts today." Oza said calmly, her fists engulfed in flames.

"You won't win... the Avatar."

"...is taken care of." Oza interrupted, grabbing the President with her fiery hands out of his chair and shoving him towards the glass window behind his desk. "Congratulations, Mr. President. You are the first... and the last President of the United Republic of Nations." She shot two fireballs at him and sent him crashing through the cracked glass and tumbling towards the unforgiving street below.

Bystanders suddenly surrounded the President's body as Oza blasted a Satomobile cruising down the street with her lightning, giving Zai Zai the signal to start the fire.

She smiled at the sheer panic and leaped off the building with fiery jets behind her, burning the office as she went.

...

Korra was walking around, despite Kya's orders to remain in bed, when she saw the smoke.

"What's happening?" Korra asked herself.

Bolin burst onto the balcony and was shouting,

"Someone killed the President!"

"Raiko?" Korra asked in disbelief. Despite hating the guy, she didn't want him dead. She took a step towards the edge of the balcony and saw the Sky Bison the Bhanti Tribe of firebenders had gifted her shortly before Harmonic Convergence. She'd met and played with him many times since then, but rarely used him for transportation purposes since she had Naga. "I'm going after them."

"You can't..."

"I am." Korra airbent a gust of wind underneath her and landed on Amma. "Let's go girl, Yip Yip."

Amma obeyed, but was suprised when it felt another weight on her back.

"You're not going without me." Bolin shouted, having earthbent his way forward.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Korra said kindly, directing Amma towards the smoke.

* * *

 **Amma the Sky Bison's name is an anagram of "Mama". Why? Well, rearrange the letters of Appa... (Papa).**

 **Zai Zai is named after the Ikran owned by Natiri in Avatar (with the blue people, directed by James Cameron because why not?)**

 **The plan is still set for a tri-shot, but we'll see in time.**

 **Thank you**

 **Review, Follow, Favorite or whatever it is you do.**


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